My thoughts …"Netted on the Net"

In Bharath today intolerance is a much abused term in defining Secularism. Real Secularism (as opposed to sickularism that is practised) is not based on Tolerance but based on acceptance.

Sanathana Dharma is all about accepting all denominations of faiths, tradition and practices. Tolerance has its limits and is bound to breakdown. Acceptance on the other hand is boundless and has a positive ring to it. Tolerance is looking down on people or events from an assumed higher moral plane.

Creation and nature always strives to remain in balance and this high-low relationship in the process of achieving this balance creates disturbances. Riots/Clashes etc is manifestation of this process that are man-made. Natural calamities The state of remaining in balance demands that relationships are launched and maintained from the same plane.

While on this subject, I realized why it is important to live the knowledge My Master has inspired – Accepting people as they are!!! Taking Responsibility!!! Consequence of inaction

Let us develop that strength we need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us!!!

A nice old story to prove the point – Sure many of us heard this before.

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought a war. He called his parents enroute to let them in on the news of his return

“Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me.”

“Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.”

“There’s something you should know the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.

“Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing
more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the police of a distant city. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to that town and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. The son even if he had come home would have been tolerated out of social compulsion and never been accepted. We find it easy to love and accept those who are good-looking or fun to have around and those who fit into our definitions of “suitable for us”, but we don’t like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.

Thankfully, there’s my Guru, Sri Sri who won’t treat us that way. Here is someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the largest One World family, regardless of how messed up we are.